This invention relates to a machine for adzing old ties on track from which the tie plates and rails have been removed, and also to a rail changing machine incorporating such an adzing arrangement.
Devices for changing rails which have existed to date have been hampered in operation by the great number of auxiliary operations which have to be performed by different workcrews using different machines.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a rail changing machine which, in its preferred embodiment, is capable of replacing rails without any additional operations being necessary.
The present invention makes use of a novel adzer support which is pivotable with respect to the main frame of the machine and about a pivot point which coincides approximately with one laterally disposed adzer or about a pivot point which coincides approximately with the other laterally disposed adzer as selected. By this means the adzers may be maintained substantially perpendicular with respect to superelevated or banked ties which are provided at curves and, of course, the frame is pivotal in either direction to accommodate right or left curves.
As an additional feature the degree of tilting is measured automatically and fed back to a device for measuring the superelevation of the track, whereby the adzers are automatically maintained at the correct angle.
Preferably, the adzers are also mounted for conjoint lateral movement on the pivotal frame in response to signals from a centre line follower which follows a previously applied track centre line. This additional feature permits the adzer station to be accommodated on a long work beam on which are mounted other work stations because on curved track the adzers are simply moved laterally to the correct rail location.